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<title>“Humans don’t always get to plan things like this.” by Lost_Elf</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23227381">“Humans don’t always get to plan things like this.”</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_Elf/pseuds/Lost_Elf'>Lost_Elf</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adoption, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Family Feels, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 12:01:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,575</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23227381</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_Elf/pseuds/Lost_Elf</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Connor had a brilliant year-long plan. That plan didn't work. And so, now he is standing with a child in his arms – <em>his</em> child – and he has no idea how to tell his unsuspecting husband that they are a family now.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hank Anderson/Connor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>108</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>“Humans don’t always get to plan things like this.”</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A fluff idea that bugged me and forced me to cut my nap short in order to write it down. Writing it took me a stupid amount of time and a realisation that I'm just not good at fluff. ^.^" I've been so nice to Connor so far. That's gonna change. For now, enjoy the nice while it lasts. :D</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>So, this didn’t go exactly as planned.</p><p>The obvious plan was to discuss things first. And, well, they <em>did</em> discuss the topic a few times. Enough times that Hank’s reaction to that topic changed from openly hostile to phlegmatic, maybe even interested. The objective was to make Hank <em>open to the idea</em>, not to make him excited about it, so this was completed. <em>Completed enough</em>. Anyway.</p><p>The other important part of the plan was to get the house ready. One empty room is ready enough. He’d also need some time off work, and he forgot to sort that out. Androids don’t usually forget things, but as the date neared, and Hank still wasn’t fully receptive to the proposal, and there was the long homicide investigation… Connor did everything so he wouldn’t have to put the date off, move his name lower in the waiting list, because another year of waiting would cost him his sanity. So, he forgot to sort work out. Doesn’t matter, he can ask for emergency time off.</p><p>Connor did and didn’t think this through. As he stood by the door of his and Hank’s house, he felt like he didn’t plan anything at all. He wasn’t sure what to do, and he really didn’t want to go back now. Not when he already held <em>him</em> in his arms.</p><p>Still, he couldn’t bring himself to make a step forward. Take the house keys out of a pocket or ring the bell. He stood there, a duffel bag in one hand and the boy in the other, head resting on his shoulder. He felt so stupid, yet it was a better feeling than fear. He feared Hank’s reaction. What if he gets angry, throws them both out? What if this will be the end of their marriage? Connor was so busy following his dream that he forgot to worry about these questions.</p><p>Minutes passed, and the world started getting an orange tint as the sun neared the horizon. Nines stirred, waking up for the first time since stepping into the taxi that brought them home. It forced Connor to finally take a step forward and open the door.</p><p>Immediately, Sumo starts barking. This also wasn’t a part of Connor’s plan, but he was ready for it. He drops the duffel bag and quickly fishes a treat from his picket, tossing it to the dog who calms down immediately, uncaring about their guest as long as treatment like this continues.</p><p>“Con, is that you?” Hank’s voice comes from the bedroom. It startles the android for a second, but he quickly gains his composure back.</p><p>“Yes, it’s me,” he calls. “I’m with someone.”</p><p>He hears shuffling, probably Hank putting on clothes, and so he quickly puts Nines on the ground. The boy is still sleepy, unaffected by Sumo’s barking or the yelling. He rubs his eyes and looks around before outstretching his arms, demanding to be held again.</p><p>Connor can’t help but melt at the sight. The boy has brown hair, messy from the nap, and blue eyes, almost the same as Hank. He’s lip is pushed forward in a pout, and it takes all of Connor’s will not to give in. Instead, he crouches to the boy’s level and smiles. “You are gonna meet your dad, now,” he says, hiding all his nervousness behind gentle, controlled tone. “Can you stand on your own feet for a while?”</p><p>The boy’s face brightens, a smile appearing briefly as he nods. He was excited to meet Hank ever since Connor told him about the policeman. But as they hear the human’s steps, Nines’ shyness wins out, and he quickly hides behind Connor, peeking out from behind his legs.</p><p>It was a hard choice for him (one that both him and Hank should have discussed, but that plan was abandoned fast) whether to have CyberLife set the YK900’s personality, choosing random traits from both to-be parents, or not intervene, letting him choose who he wants to be from the beginning. He chose to not mess with Nines’ program, because it just generally felt weird to affect an android’s personality. A living being’s personality.</p><p>“You didn’t say we’d have guests tonight. Who—” Hank stops abruptly when he sees the two androids for the first time. He can probably only see Nines’ hand on Connor’s thigh, nothing else, but it’s enough for him to make the connection. He isn’t a lieutenant for nothing, after all. He wants to mumble <em>for fuck’s sake</em> but stops himself before the swearword comes out, maybe by some old reflex.</p><p>Connor holds his breath (that he fortunately doesn’t really need) and waits. It’s up to Hank to show some reaction, but the man only stares at them, eyes flicking between the two androids. Nines peeks out a few times but hides back in Connor’s shadow in the next second every time.</p><p>By the time Hank finally moves, the android’s bio-components are overheating a little from the lack of cooling. He gasps, taking in a huge gulp of air, and watches his husband come closer. His mind goes over hundreds of possibilities in a second, his thirium pump lurching every time something dark crosses his mind.</p><p>Hank could throw them out. Or he could throw out only Nines, separate them. What if he hurts Nines? Maybe not intentionally – Hank is too good of a person – but he could touch him in a wrong way, or scare him, or Sumo could grow nervous and attack. There are so many bad options that suddenly, it’s not only Nines covering, but also Connor protectively reaching back and shielding him from Hank. The red of his LED is so vibrant he sees it reflecting on the wall next to him.</p><p>The lieutenant stops a few paces in front of them. He looks briefly at Connor, face unreadable even for the detective, and then slowly lowers himself to one knee with a barely muffled grunt. He fixes his eyes on the small head trying to peek from behind Connor’s legs and smiles.</p><p>“Hey,” he says. “My name is Hank. And who are you?”</p><p>Connor’s breathing stops again when he feels Nines pull away from his protective hands and take a sidestep, showing himself to Hank. His eyes are full of curiosity as he studies every detail of the older man carefully before deciding to answer.</p><p>His voice is soft compared to both adults, childish. “I’m Nines.” He waits for a second, and then he rushes to hide behind Connor again. Connor turns around and picks him up, supporting him with one hand and stroking his hair with the other, calming them both.</p><p>“It’s alright, Nines,” he soothes. The kid’s LED is flickering as he is overwhelmed, trying to process everything around him, and Connor knows the feeling too well. The first few days after he became a deviant were hard, and Nines came into this world already freely feeling all those things, not bound by any program.</p><p>Hank takes a slow step forward, then another, closing the distance between them while Connor still hasn’t decided if the situation is good or bad. His husband lays one hand on his shoulder and the other on the kid’s back, a gesture far from a hug but as close as he dares to. “It’s nice to meet you, Nines,” he hums quietly. Then he turns to Connor, who almost sags in relief when he sees amusement and fondness in his partner’s eyes. “I see that you did the decision yourself, in the end.”</p><p>Caught by surprise, the android stammers out the lamest excuse he had in store. “Humans don’t always get to plan things like this in life.”</p><p>“No, they don’t,” Hank chuckles.</p><p>A comfortable silence settles between them, disturbed only by Nines’ wiggling in Connor’s hold and curiously looking around, much braver in the adult’s arms. But Connor is still reluctant, irrational fear winning over cold logic when feelings are concerned.</p><p>“Have you met Sumo, Nines?” Hank asks, eyes fixed on the kid now, another emotion Connor doesn’t recognise playing on his face. “Do you want to?”</p><p>The kid nods, and Hank outstretches his arms. Connor’s hold on the boy tightens for a brief second, he has to remind himself that everything is alright, Hank knows what he is doing, and he won’t hurt them. As he slowly lets go of Nines, watching him settle in Hank’s arms instead, his thirium pump seems to stop, love and fear making him dizzy.</p><p>Hank carries the kid towards Sumo’s bed and lets the dog sniffle at the kid before guiding his hand to pet the dog. Nines’ eyes could as well turn into two tiny hearts in that moment. He grins as he pets the dog and scratches behind his ears, and the dog seems to take similar liking in him.</p><p>“You two are gonna be friends, aren’t you?” Hank chuckles. He seems more than pleased that this worked out. As Nines doesn’t seem willing to stop petting the dog yet, Hank carefully puts him on the ground and walks back to Connor, who is frozen to the spot with tears in his eyes.</p><p>“You are hot,” Hank notes as he runs a hand up the android’s arm.</p><p>“I’m forgetting to breathe,” Connor admits. “I, I don’t understand. You, you are happy, right?”</p><p>Hank’s smile turns a little sad, but he nods.</p><p>“And I’m so glad Nines and Sumo go along. I was worried, but everything is fine. Then why am I so scared? I know you won’t hurt him, but I get so scared…” The human shakes his head and chuckles at his rambling, which only confuses Connor. “What’s funny about this? I can’t even function properly!”</p><p>“Well, welcome to parenthood,” Hank smirks and throws his hands in the air like he was really welcoming him to a completely new world. “Irrational fear, endless worries; though I never expected <em>you</em> to be this kind of parent.”</p><p>“Me neither,” Connor sighs. “It has to have something to do with all the stress of the adoption—”</p><p>“Or all the stupid sappy comedies you watched lately,” Hank jabs at him. Connor is about to say something back, but his eyes fall on Nines who is carefully approaching them, and frown disappears from his face instantly. As soon as he offers his arms, Nines runs the rest of the way to him and jumps. Once he’s in Connor’s arms again, the android feels much calmer.</p><p>He briefly wonders if it will be like this forever, worried mess instead of the most advanced detective android, and as if reading his mind, Hank pats him on the shoulder. “You’ll get used to it in a few days. The first week or so is just… asking yourself what the he— heck you are doing. Then you slowly understand that they aren’t as easily breakable as they seem, little devils… Some of the fear will stay, I guess… Saved for… unpredictable events.” By the end of his speech, there are tears in Hank’s eyes, but he never sheds them. He’s done crying over the past. Connor taught him to live in the present.</p><p>Nines yawns and Connor is reminded of his plan, or lack of. The room they cleared out is completely empty, no bed or wardrobe or toys. All they have is one bag with clothes and food for the android kid.</p><p>“Time to go to bed, huh?” Hank smiles. While Connor is completely lost, he seems to be in his element, jumping into parenting mode like he never stopped. “Guess we’ll have to go furniture shopping tomorrow. And tonight, little guy can sleep with us, what’d you say?”</p><p>Nines’ half-lidded eyes light up. Either he already knows that being allowed to sleep with his parents is a rarity, or he is just excited that he can stay close to them.</p><p>“Dinner first,” Connor remembers, and so they unpack the duffel bag and Hank makes PB&amp;J sandwich from special ingredients while the androids watch him. Nines seems more interested in playing with Sumo, who was even willing to leave his warm bed to do whatever the boy wants from him. Connor’s eyes flick between his son and his husband, love and worry keeping him in his chair, unable to decide what’s more important – looking after Nines or helping Hank.</p><p>After Nines eats and brushes his teeth, they all change into their sleepwear and head to bed. Connor is relieved when he realises that he already feels a little better as Nines falls asleep between him and Hank, having no worries at all.</p><p>Connor doesn’t simulate sleep the same way Nines does, he has to willingly go into sleep mode and set what time he wants to wake up at. He waits, though, just watching the boy. He was so excited for this. He had been wishing to start a family ever since Hank took him out for the first time and they passed by a family of four. He wanted to have what they had.</p><p>Adoption for androids was probably even more complicated than for humans. The waiting list was long, and Connor probably only passed the various interviews because he is <em>that</em> Connor. Though, he wasn’t going to complain about the process being unfair because of connections when it worked out in his favour and got him this beautiful boy.</p><p>“Thinking about something nice?”</p><p>Hank, apparently, wasn’t asleep either. Connor realised that he’s been smiling, something he did a lot today, and he couldn’t get the smile off his face even now. “Yeah,” he admitted. “We are a family now…”</p><p>“Yes, we are,” Hank chuckled. His eyes kept wandering back to the boy every time he looked away. Gradually, all the sadness and melancholia left him, replaced by peace only Connor could’ve brought into his life.</p><p>“Are you angry?” the android asked, even though he was (almost) sure Hank isn’t.</p><p>“No. I knew you are gonna do this sooner or later. You kept bringing it up at all the convenient times; it was obvious that you have a plan and you aren’t giving up. I just hoped for a little bit more heads-up…”</p><p>“Yeah, sorry,” Connor felt himself blush, something that shouldn’t even been possible, but someone at CyberLife thought about everything when creating him. “It didn’t go as planned. I didn’t want to push the adoption away, but the last investigation took so much of our time that I didn’t get everything in time.”</p><p>“We’ll get it tomorrow.”</p><p>It was like a heavy weight being lifted from Connor’s chest. Why did this exact sentence have this effect on him when Hank’s stance hasn’t changed from the second he learned about the situation, he didn’t know, but the android suddenly felt much better. He was so scared that Hank will not be a good parent or Hank won’t like Nines, and he let all those fears get in the way of his usual rational self. But now, as Hank softly spoke to him and looked at the two androids bathed in moon light (and the light from streetlamps) with loving eyes, he felt safe and calm for the first time that day.</p><p>“Go to sleep, you crazy, overprotective momma,” Hank teased him, slightly ruining that moment, but it didn’t matter, because Connor had every second of it stored in his memory.</p><p>“Good night, Hank,” he smiled and closed his eyes.</p><p>“Good night, sweetheart,” was the last thing he heard.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>You can follow me on <a href="https://twitter.com/ElfWriting">Twitter</a>.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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